John t



J. T. ROBERTS.

ARTIFICIAL FUEL. APPLICATION man FEB. 2a, |916.

IQIHRIIIOWM Patentemug. 1,1916.

n lim JOHN T. ROBERTS, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

an'rrrican FUEL."

mesmo'. l

To all whom it may concern Beit known-that I, JOHAN T. ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented new 'and useful Improve-l ments 4in .ArtiicialFueL of which the following is a speciication. v

This invention relates to an artificial fuel and a method of making or cohering the Same. P

4 An object of the invention is tti-produce' v an artificial fuel in the form of a stick or briquet including a body of -combustible material and a binder of plastic material so compounded and associated as to producel an article which will retain its form and integrity underall atmospheric conditions and i mixing a number of combustible elements vwith a suitable binding substance, to wet 'the same and tov mix all of the elements when in a substantially semi-plastic state and to form the same into briquets withinl each of which is centrally arranged a core also of a combustible nature and after .perl mitting the briquets to dry, to immerse the same in a gaseous fluid, such as a body of kerosene or the like and whereby all of the pores of the briquet will be impregnated by the fluid and the gases thereof, after which 'the `briquet is permitted to' dry and-is given al coating of an impervious substance which is ignitible but not highly lnfiammable,

such, for instance, as melted wax, andj whereby the oil or gases from the oil will l be held in the` briquet and permitted to es-y cape therefrbm only in accordance with the volume at which the same is consumed b'y a flame when the briquet is ignited, J

d It is a still further object of the invention to produce an artificial fuel in the form of sticks or briquets which shall be simple and cheap to manufacture,` which can be easily and conveniently handled and which will produce a lasting and uniform volume of heat. n For the purpose of illustrating my 1nv ention T have shown in the accompany1ngdrawings a satisfactory reduction of theim.-

provement to practice, and in which Figure l is a perspective view of my artiiicial fuel in the form of a briquet, lEig. 2

' pounds, coal dust 9 Specification of Letters Patent. Patgmtigdl Aug, L 119116 Application filed February 28, 1916. v Serial 80,864. y

is a central longitudinal sectional view through the same, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view. approximately on 'the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. s

For each one hundred pounds of my fuel I employ ingredients proportioned substantially as follows: v v

' For the fuel proper I employ crushed coke, 23 pounds, charcoal (crushed) 13 pounds and rosin (crushed) 10 pounds.

For the binder or body T employ magnesia, 5 pounds, sawdust 20-pounds and as bestos cement, 5 pounds, 'and for the core or central reinforcing member vI employ y strips of 'combustible material such as wood',

cardboard'or the-like 'equaling 5 pounds.

The fuel and the body or binder are saturated and all of these ingredients are mixed together. This plastic substance is placed in a suitable mold, approximately filling onehalf of the mold, when the reinforcing member is inserted in the mold longitudinally thereof and. upon the plastic substance. lThe substance maybe tamped before the reinf forcing member or core is arranged thereon, and the mold is then filled with Aadditional plastic substance and the said substance tamped. The briquet thus formed is placed upon a drying board and the same may be subjected to heat. When the briquet isthoroughly dried the same is immersed in a gaseous fluid, such as a body of kerosene oil, and the oil penetrates all of the I'pores of the briquet. When the briquet has its outer surface wholly dried of the oil, the same is then immersed in )a` bath of melted wax which serves to retain the gases from the oil or the oil itself in the pores of the briquet 'as well kas a preservative for the briquet and "the gases or oil escape only as the same are ceptible to deteriorating influence by, the elements, should the same be exposed to snow,

sleet, water, etc., and as the wrapper is combustible it provides a kindling element` for -the briquet.

While the sawdust has been referred to as one ofthe binding or body elementsv of ,the fuel, the same is, of course,v cfa com'l bustible nature and with the remaining ele- I nentsl will add to the intensity of.' the-heat and the length of duration ofl the-flame.

The briquet it is to beunders'tood, presents-a highly porous body and the. outer ignitible facing is essential for retaining the gasesvin the bores of the body A The cen-- trally disposed reinforcing member or core vcomprises a thin substantially rectangular strip which is wholly embedded in the body terminating only ashort .distance from -the ends and edges of the said body 4and vconsequently reinforces the body for y the entire length thereof. Thearrangement v should the facing orouterlcoating become. broken by the bending of the body, the gases will escape from the pores of the said' body rendering the fuel defective.;w =u .v

of .the reinforcing member is important-,as

. What I claim is:

' In an vartificial fuel, a briquet comprising a substantially rectangular porous bodyand having the pores thereoffilled with a gaseous oil, an impervious coating,for the body i to retain'the oil and gases therefrqm in the pores' of the body, and a substantially rectangular reinforcing member of ignitible material centrally. and longitudinally embedded within said body and having its ends and edgesterminatingonly a short distance `from the ends and edges of the body, whereby to eect in preventing the breaking of the briquet and the 4coating thereon when BENNETT S.'. IONns, 

